


Of Last Lives and Giving Flowers

by DigitalSiamese



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Prompt Fic, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 13:52:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15292935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalSiamese/pseuds/DigitalSiamese
Summary: Based on a prompt from a friend: "You have a knack for tearing my heart to shreds."Connor has a hard time remembering that he doesn't have any more second chances.





	Of Last Lives and Giving Flowers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littlefallofraina18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlefallofraina18/gifts).



    Kara couldn’t quite remember how she had gotten into the habit of visiting the police station on her way home, but here she was, standing in the doorway for the third time this week already, shaking off the raindrops from her umbrella.

    “Back so soon?” the secretary teased as she approached the front desk, the lines around his eyes growing stronger when he grinned.

    “I, uh...yes,” Kara stuttered, flushing. “I came to see -”

    “If Connor was around, yes,” the secretary correctly guessed. “I’m afraid he’s out right now, actually... _but_ I can leave him a note telling him you came, if you’d like.”

    There was a moment’s silence as Kara struggled to find what to say. Fortunately, she didn’t have to. “Olsen, leave the poor girl alone for a minute, would ya?” interjected a third voice, interrupting their conversation as they turned toward the speaker. Hank Anderson shook his head as he approached. “Half of everything you say is going right over her head.”

    Olsen chuckled and apologized, “Sorry.” It was clear that he wasn’t.

    “Hank,” Kara greeted him with a smile, which he returned. “Kara,” he answered back. “I keep expecting you to come in with, I don’t know...flowers, or something.”

    Kara’s brow furrowed. “Flowers?” she repeated. “Was I supposed to bring flowers for something?”

    Hank laughed, and even though it was at her expense, Kara didn’t mind. “No, no,” he assured her, waving off the notion. “Giving flowers is just a thing us humans do, to show our affection for each other.”

    “Wait,” sputtered Kara, “you aren’t suggesting I bring flowers for _Connor,_ are you?”

    “Ho ho, so you _do_ have affection for him!” Olsen chirped, but he was ignored as Hank spoke over him: “It might help the idiot understand why you’ve been coming to see him so often.”

    Narrowing her eyes, Kara asked, “What are you implying?”

    Hank only raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Come on, sweetheart,” he said, skirting around the subject, “I’ll walk you home. Goodnight, Olsen.”

    “Goodnight, Hank; Miss Kara,” Olsen’s voice trailed after them as they stepped outside.

 

    They walked down the sidewalk, arm in arm, Hank holding Kara’s umbrella to shield them both from the gentle rainfall. The path back to Kara’s apartment was a familiar one, and so instead of worrying about what turns to take when, they simply enjoyed the ambiance of the city and each other’s company. “There was a gang-related situation downtown; Connor got called in,” Hank stated, answering the question Kara hadn’t asked but wanted to.

    “They didn’t send you with?” Kara queried. “Aren't you partners?”

    “We weren’t always,” Hank replied with a shrug. “I trust Fowler's judgements; I just wish...” He trailed off, sighing. Kara reached over and gently placed her free hand on his arm, prompting him to continue. “I’ve never met another android like him before,” Hank said. “And it’s not because he’s ‘amazingly smart’ or any stupid crap like that, because _boy,_ he can be thick sometimes...”

    They slowed to a stop at an intersection, and Kara pressed the button for the crosswalk.

    “They’d replace him,” Hank went on. “I watched him get shot, beaten, torn to scraps - and every time he’d show up again, a shiny new model with all the vital parts of the last Connor’s memories.”

    Kara blinked, surprised, and wondered at all the existential questions this new information raised. “That’s...” she murmured. “That’s _horrible_.”

    “Ha, yeah.” The expression on Hank’s face told her all she needed to know. “But it’s not like that anymore. He’s a deviant now; he’s run out of extra lives.”

    There was a very clear direction that this conversation was going, and Kara took a guess at it as they crossed the street: “He still acts like he has ‘extra lives’, though, doesn’t he?”

    Hank nodded and it was her turn to sigh. “That’s why I’m so worried about him,” he admitted. “He’s a reckless fool.”

    They passed the last of the shops and turned down a quieter street, empty save for several glowing lamps that illuminated the way. Kara counted down the paces to her apartment door, and when they reached it she stopped and fished the keys from her pocket. She slid them into the keyhole and the lock clicked open; but instead of stepping inside, she turned to the lieutenant with a smile and said, “Thank you for walking me home again, Hank.”

    “Of course,” Hank replied. “I’ll let Connor know that you came to see him, again.” He tried to hand her the umbrella, but she pushed it back into his hand. “It’s still raining. Take it,” she told him. “I don’t want you to go home wet. And besides...” Here she stopped and laughed. “I’ll see you soon enough, won’t I?”

    Goodnights and smiles were traded between them, and after Kara had disappeared behind the door, Hank looked up at the umbrella and murmured, “God, I hope Connor marries that girl.”

 

♦

 

    It was late, and Kara couldn’t stop thinking about Connor. _It’s not like I sleep, anyway,_ she kept telling herself; but it wasn’t as if she normally paced around the island in her kitchenette for the entire night, either.

    They’d _replace_ him. Those monsters at CyberLife created an android with the specific intention that it would eventually be destroyed, instead of trying to find a way to make him less destructible. Perhaps Kara wouldn’t have been so upset about the idea if it hadn’t been the reason for Connor’s impulsiveness.

    She glanced at the clock: _2:47._

    Was this the third or the thousandth time she’d walked around the island?

   “Ugh, just - just _go to bed_ ,” she told herself, dragging her fingers over her face. “There’s no reason to stay up.” Her arms dropped against her sides and she shuffled out of the kitchenette, feet bare against the wooden floor. Down the hall, into her room, dropping unceremoniously onto the bed that was still there from the last tenant. Moonlight seeped in through the window; the rain had stopped and the clouds had cleared from the sky.

    Closing her eyes, Kara tried to clear her mind.

     _He was called into an issue with gangs?_ she thought, immediately betraying herself. She groaned and rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. _I hope it wasn’t a shootout. If he was caught in the crossfire..._

    It was at that exact moment that a buzzing sound drew her attention. Her hand shot out and she grabbed the cell phone from her nightstand, answering the call without bothering to see who it was. “Hello?”

    “Kara?” Hank’s voice. “It’s Connor.”

    Her heart jumped into her throat and she jolted upright. “Wh-what’s wrong?”

    “It’s...well, there’s no easy way to put this. He’s in a bad spot. You might wanna come down to the station.”

    Kara leapt from her bed and hurried back into the kitchen, fumbling with her phone as she tried to pull on her boots with just one hand. “I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she promised.

    “Be safe,” was Hank’s only reply before he ended the call.

    Kara bit her lip and shoved her foot into the other boot, bracing herself on the wall for support. In any other situation she would have appreciated the irony of their conversation earlier, but Connor’s life was on the line. _Was he shot?_ she wondered, thoughts racing. _Or he tried to intervene, and they tore him up -_ Tears sprang to her eyes. She zipped up her jacket and violently shook her head. “He’ll be okay,” she whispered. “He’s _got_ to be okay.” She didn’t believe herself.

    She hurried down the apartment stairs and out the front door, running down the sidewalk, feet splashing in the last of the rain that pooled on the ground. Anxiety was eating her up from the inside. Storefronts, street lamps, passing cars - they all flew by as she raced back to the police station, thirium pump beating faster and faster and faster.

    Kara practically burst into the police station, heads turning to watch her as she collapsed against the front desk. “Where is he?” she breathed; but the officer behind the desk wasn’t Olsen, and she appeared to have no idea what was going on.

    “Kara!” Hank was suddenly by her side, hand on her shoulder.

    “Where is he?” she repeated.

    “This way.” He led her from the foyer, down the hall; it felt like an eternity before they reached the med room and he pulled her to a halt. “He’s in there,” he stated. “Kara, it’s not pretty.”

    Nodding, hands wringing, she took a breath and muttered, “Okay.” She braced herself and pushed the door open.

    There were three people in the room, two of which appeared to be nurses; but the only person Kara paid any attention to was Connor, who was propped up on the table and certainly looking worse for the wear. He saw her as soon as she entered. “Kara?”

    “Connor!” she gasped, rushing to his side and grabbing his hand. Neither of them noticed the nurses step back to give them space. “Are you alright? Hank called me - he told me you were hurt -”

    “I’ve sustained some damage,” Connor told her, wiping away a tear that was trailing down her cheek, “but I’ll be alright.”

    “What were you _thinking_?” she scolded, touching his neck. “You can’t keep jumping into danger! There aren’t any more second chances!” She blinked back another round of tears and squeezed his hand. “You have a knack for tearing my heart to shreds, you know that?”

    “I’m sorry,” Connor apologized. “I hope I can make it up to you.”

    Frowning, Kara replied, “Well, you’ve got a lot to make up for.”

    Something clicked in the back of Connor’s brain. He slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her closer, until she was pressed against the table right in front of him. “Please, forgive me, Kara,” he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead. He bent lower, murmuring, “I don’t know what I’d do if you stopped coming to see me,” before kissing her cheek. Their foreheads brushed and he paused to whisper, “How can I begin to make amends?”

    “Flowers,” Kara answered. “You could...you could start by buying me flowers.” When she noticed the puzzled look on his face, she added, “Hank told me it’s a human tradition.”

    “Flowers it is, then,” Connor agreed. There was a beat, a second of tension; and then he leaned in again, this time to kiss her gently on the lips. Warmth blossomed between them, unfolding like the soft petals of a flower. They pulled away slowly, reluctantly, both smiling like the lovestruck fools they were. Kara glanced over her shoulder and noticed the nurses had left to give them privacy. “I should find them,” she stated, indicating the empty spot where they had been standing. “Let them finish fixing you up.”

    “Don’t leave before I’m done,” Connor said.

    “I wouldn’t dream of it.” Kara placed a kiss of her own on the end of his nose and stepped back. Her gaze didn’t leave him until she was back out in the hallway.

    Hank was waiting; for her or for Connor, she wasn’t sure. Probably both. She stopped by his side and asked, “What happened to him?”

    Hank rolled his eyes. “Got ambushed by a trigger-happy delinquent,” he answered. “A _drunk_ trigger-happy delinquent, fortunately for him. He’ll be fine, though; the nurses said they can patch him up without a problem.”

    Kara nodded absent-mindedly, not sure how to feel about the fluttering in her chest. And then the words sunk in. “Wait - he’ll be _fine_ ?!” she blurted. Hank looked at her innocently, but she was having none of it. “You made it sound like he was _dying_ ! Are you _trying_ to make me self-destruct?!”

    Laughter burst from the lieutenant's chest and he reached up to wipe a tear from his eye. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it,” he admitted. “The two of you have been dancing around each other for _weeks_ now.” He sighed happily and then continued, “I just thought I’d...give you a little push. And from the look on your face, I’d bet that it worked.”

    Kara’s mouth dropped open. “Why, _you_ -” she gasped, but her protests went unheard under Hank’s laughter.


End file.
